Re: What Do You Think The Ending For TLoU Will Be?

Think about the relations to major literature from the 1920's. Post World War 1 there was a lot of Dadaists. It was a major overhaul for the world since we all got involved with each other's business. Now relate that to a true "wasteland" much like the T.S. Elliot poem. It's not so much about what or how something is happening around the characters, it's their relation and how the human element is played up. It's not about "living" on and rebuilding the human race, representation of our race is clumped together in the two main characters:

Ellie - the "lost generation" in a sense that she knows nothing more than the world she currently lives in. A world of complete turmoil and she handles it through a special kind of grit, which is ironic because her character reminds me Mattie Ross or Tender Branson in how they only know the dismay of the human race and what kind of world it created for itself out of poor decisions of others and beyond. There is a reason she is at a certain age and not older. Youth has always rendered a philisophical understanding that with our young, there is still hope.

Joel - a prototypical Cormac McCarthy character. A tortured soul that relies on the reactive portions of the brain to survive and live on. The brain shields itself from pain by relying heavily on reactive emotions, which in this case is anger and fear. Joel is obviously fueled by anger/fear, the natural force than human's tend to forget that we are still animals and instincts do play a massive role. It's not that he is scared of dying or that fear is a associative thing. He fears that he will fail. Fail to keep Ellie alive, fail to achieve a promise to a loved one, fail to set things right, fail to rectify his previous life. It's something most deal with at some point in their life. The ability to dig out of it is what sets the mold.

So in the end, it's not about what happens to the world, it's more about what happens to the conscious vs the subconscious. Joel and Ellie are the world. They are the focus on what is left of a society. Two separate paths and portions. Adaptation of the mind and the condition. The surrealist vs the transcendalist. Joel is basis for Ellie's character type. He is a catalyst for the maturation and enlightenment of Ellie. It's not that his role is unimportant, rather his purpose is to be a guide of what humanity can unfortunately become and what humanity can overcome if it tries to do so. So if I had to sum up a bunch of rambling shit, Joel sacrifices himself for Ellie, Ellie over time has a Plato's cave moment and a new journey is established with her character. Doesn't mean Joel dies, he just plays his role and nothing more. I dunno, it's late and I have a degree in Literature....so yeah.

Re: What Do You Think The Ending For TLoU Will Be?

I think Joel will finish his mission. He will get Ellie to wherever he is taking her. But he will die. He's no hero, he's a survivor. This game is about humanity, not monsters. But however Joel dies, it doesn't matter. He will die. I think he will die to save her, to finish his mission. He may finally realize all the bad he does, even though he's just trying to live, and I guess if he's the religous type, maybe he gives in easier, thinking he will be with his wife and kids in the afterlife, assuming he had a wife or kids....

I don't think it's just that he is a survivor and nothing more. He's a piece of humanity. Some lasting representation of what we are made of and why or how we were created. Together Ellie and Joel are one caricature. Over time Joel will play his role as a martyr or whatever ND decides within those terms and Ellie will achieve the role of the next piece in the human double-entendre.

Re: What Do You Think The Ending For TLoU Will Be?

Well, Joel's mission is to get Ellie out of a camp for a dying friend I believe. I think by the end of the story, they will have a very strong bond, and maybe the only family they have is each other. I don't think they will depart at the end of the game. Maybe they end up in a peaceful camp that isn't corrupt? It's hard to say. I will tell you one thing though, I'm 99.9% sure there will be at least two games in the series. It's not like Naughty Dog to drop a game after the first title, especially if their fans want more.

Don't agree on the 3 part thing. Try to avoid looking at it as "just a video game" and it has to follow the "standards" this industry currently has. I'd rather it be an awesome single experience that really redefines what a game can do and that the story telling in a video game should be considered abstract art. Don't draw it out and muddle it up with convoluted junk. Make that single performance be so powerful, it's not about who survives and who dies, it becomes what you gained throughout the process.

Re: What Do You Think The Ending For TLoU Will Be?

I want these emotions displayed in the picture at the end of the credits. I think it makes a great emotional impact on us for what we experience through their journey. They may not be blood-related, but they can share smile and laugh together like a father and a daughter.

Re: What Do You Think The Ending For TLoU Will Be?

I'd like an ending similar to the scene in "I am Legend" where the dog, Samantha, (his only friend in the world) gets infected and he kills it off.

Perhaps Joel gets infected and they have a few minutes to talk before Joel really turns into one of them creatures. Maybe Joel convince Ellie to to kill him? Maybe she's reluctant at first but end up end doing it anyway?

And by the time you're done reading this, you'll realize that this is just my sig